Shipping Practices

I put this off until now thinking that perhaps I would come up with something interesting to discuss.... and quite frankly it's been a rather standard day.

A few days ago I ordered three books through Barnes and Noble citing that I would like them to ship in as few packages as possible. The first two books in my order shipped together and then I received an e-mail saying that the other one could not be shipped yet. Today I got two packages in the mail.

Both packages were from Barnes and Noble. I find it really amusing that they couldn't seem to be bothered to send everything in a single package, though it managed to arrive together none-the-less.

Styrofoam Mess

Yesterday I forgot that I needed to blog until one in the morning, when I was finally considering sleep. This of course means that I will be blogging twice on either Saturday or Sunday. In my own defense I wasn't really too awake last night, and not having my own computer for the moment is a bit distracting.

Yesterday at work it wasn't really busy, though I kept busy enough. At one point a customer wanted to buy a set of lamps, but the pair she was interested in weren't on display aware so I told her that we could open the box so that she could see what they looked like.

There were three boxes marked to have the set that she was looking for, go figure that everyone of those boxes had the wrong pair of lamps in them. This of course meant that I had to open every box of lamps from that brand to verify that the correct lamps were in them.

Now this wasn't such a horrible task, except for the Styrofoam that they are packed in. The Styrofoam, for whatever reason, refuses to stay in one piece EVER. So of course I was showered in Styrofoam several times over. Egh.

Then of course, prior to work there was the early morning drive up to WCC to work on getting my brother prepared to register for his classes for this semester. Our Mini-Van died the other day, and since dad was golfing my car was the only one available at that moment. It was a long day.

Hating Technology

My junk laptop, which replaced the former laptop, has decided that it no longer wants to function properly. I am deeply annoyed and now have to start looking into ways to fix my current computer-less state.

I. HATE. TECHNOLOGY.

Just saying.

Today I worked a ridiculously short shift at work, and then proceeded to venture home and attempt to keep the peace amongst the younger children while mom and dad were away. Then of course their was the impromptu drive to St. Joes to collect my parents upon the death of our Mini-Van which left them stranded. Really it's been a fairly eventful day.

Maybe I'll luck out and my computer will decide to power up when I press the power button, but I have the sinking suspicion that it's dead. Great. Just fantastic!

Movie Adaptions

I was anticipating The Golden Girls being on when I got home, but for whatever reason Hallmark has decided to have them on at eleven instead of ten. Oh well.

Tonight was a rather slow night at work, although I kept busy enough so I suppose that's all that really matters. In just under three weeks I'll be leaving the job that I've held for the last two years. It will be strange to not work there anymore. While I can't say that I will necessarily miss the job, I will certainly miss the people.

The movie adaption of Jodi Picoult's "My Sister's Keeper" came out a while ago, and I'm thinking of going to see it at some point this week. I really enjoyed the book, so I'm a little wary of the movie. That is the thing about movie adaptions of books, they rarely translate the way that you envision them and sometimes it's hard to think of them as two separate entities no matter how necessary.

I finished reading "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins last night. It was amazing, and I reviewed it on my other blog.

Village Idiot

I knew there was a reason that I don't like the ask for help. Most of the time the only person I feel like I can count on is myself, and recent events have proven that much to me. At any rate my loan finally seems to be secured and I don't have to stress over it anymore.

Eventually my annoyance at the continued implication that I don't know what I'm talking about should fade. Why is it so hard to believe that I am not a complete idiot? First I'm an idiot because everyone around me is convinced that I don't need to resort to loans, and the next minute I'm an idiot because though I've confirmed that I do need to use loans I didn't ask the right or enough questions. Not only do I resent the implication that I'm an idiot because of my presumed ignorance, I further resent being accused of being shy and therefore somehow unfit to go into my desired field. I resent being preached to by someone that I know very well has no idea what they are talking about.

There are just some days that it is easy to find yourself thinking, "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Maybe tomorrow I won't feel like I've been through the wringer, and maybe my headache will have gone away. Although the second idea is unlikely because I have to work. On the subject of work though, it was a good thing that I decided to take a look at the schedule tonight since it was changed since I last looked at it. Someone decided that I needed to come in two hours earlier tomorrow and forgot to tell me about it. That was a crisis averted.

The Desk

Today was a productive day. The store was fairly busy when I got into work. In fact, it was busy enough for the computers to be acting up. It really stinks when the computers decide that they don't want to function properly.

At any rate though, I kept busy. I had a lot of artwork to put out, and a desk to put together so that we could put it out on display. Putting the desk together was interesting. The process went easily enough, until I had to fasten the top portion onto it. There were four wooden dowels that were supposed to help fasten it, but when the front portion fastened on, the back wouldn't line up and the vice versa. I ended up on using the dowels on one section, since it had to be fastened with screws as well. I ended up having parts left over, but everything was securely put together and since there shouldn't ever be a reason to dismantle it, it should be fine.

I drove home amidst stormy skies. It was interesting walking out of the building because the sky was a study in juxtaposition. The southern portion was blue with big puffy clouds, and the northern portion was dark and murky with occasional flashes of lightning and thunder. I was glad that I was headed south. All in all though it was a full day, and I made it home in time to watch The Golden Girls.

Another Day, Another Trip

Another day, another trek several hours North. I went up to MSU this morning to talk with a financial aid advisor in order to satisfy those that doubted the possibility that I could be correct. As it turns out, I was right and I have to resort to a private alternative loan in order to pay the rest of my tuition.

Why is it so hard for people to believe that I know what I am talking about?

Anyway, at the moment I'm waiting to hear back from my cousin that agreed to be my cosigner. There is another point upon which I was right. Even going through Sallie Mae I need a cosigner, even though everyone (aside from me) seemed so sure that I wouldn't. Go figure!

Tomorrow evening I have to go to work, but in the morning I have to make sure I go get an oil change. I was already passed due for one, and after the last two days I'm really passed due. Things are finally starting to come together though. I am that much closer to getting my loans settled, I'm in the process of applying for employment at school, and I'm nearly at the end of my two year run with my current employer. Things are beginning to look up.

It's hard to believe that so many things are finally beginning to fall into place. I'm excited and nervous all that the same time.

Road Trip

Today was a rather busy day.

At around noon Sarah and I drove up to the DTE Music Theater. Her parents wanted us to take a day and drive up there to prove that we could navigate our way there. At first it looked like we were going to have to take a parent along but in the end it was just the two us and an abundance of maps. It was really straight forward which was good. At any rate it was a good indicator of how much time we will have to allow for the drive on the actual concert date.

One thing the trip definitely highlighted was that summer is equivalent to construction season in Michigan. The drive, albeit beautiful, was fraught with construction. Thank god for ipods and and thereby commercial free music. It was a fun drive though.

Once we managed to make it to Clarkston we had lunch with another girl that lives up there, and by four we were back on the road again. Now, I am notorious for being able to navigate to a location and then somehow get all turned around on the drive home.

I'm perfectly aware that the drive home should be the easiest part of the trip, but for one reason or another it always turns out to be the trickiest part for me. Go figure.

About a half an hour into the trip home we realized that we were headed in the wrong direction and therefore had to turn around. After that small snag though it was a smooth ride aside from some heavy traffic around Ann Arbor.

I am now home, eating an English muffin and continuing to contemplate a way to deal with paying my tuition. Tomorrow I get to make the drive to MSU to talk with someone who will hopefully be able to help me solve my problem. Fingers crossed!

CAKE

At the moment I am baking a Pineapple Upside-Down cake. Darcy was very interested in the process of putting it all together, and since she didn't manage to stick her face into the batter she received a can of food as compensation.

It's been a fairly quiet day, but after yesterday and the day before it I can live with a quiet day. Work was a mad-house this weekend. On the one had this is good, but on the other it's not because we definitely weren't staffed to properly handle the load of customers. I think the end of yesterday explains the situation perfectly.

Yesterday I was to get out of work at 5:30, however I became stranded running one of the registers and could not get away prior to 6:30. Now, mind you, staying late isn't generally a problem since I don't actually have a life... However, I prefer to be asked rather than steamrolled into it.

Thankfully no one had to ride home with me, because I would not have been pleasant company.

Facing Frustration

Yesterday was a rough day, and though I would like to say I'm over it I'm afraid that isn't going to be true for a few years now. At any rate, things seem to be coming together, and hopefully that is a trend that continues.

The bulk of my problem at this point, is that I am very independent. It's difficult for me to bring myself to ask others for help, because that seems to hint at some measure of weakness and I can't abide being perceived as weak. When my ability to rely on myself comes into question, I grow frustrated.

I've worked hard to build my reputation over the course of my life. I worked hard to do well in high school, and later at WCC. I earned those grades, and I worked my ass off to pay my way through those two years of school. It frustrates me that all of that doesn't seem to mean anything when it comes to funding further education. I feel like I've more than earned my place, and yet at times it's as though it is thoroughly unreachable.

I've been assured that everything will work out. I've said myself that failure is not an option here; yet these affirmations to nothing to assuage the doubt that continues to linger in the back of my mind...

PentUp Rage

Why is everything so fucking difficult? I don’t understand, no matter hard I try the logic here is escaping me. What the hell am I supposed to do? I’m reaching the end of my rope and my back is against the proverbial wall.

The government offers this mindless propaganda about getting an education because that’s the only way to get a job, and yet when you go to get the education there is nowhere to turn in order to acquire the funds. I do not have 20,000 just sitting at my disposal. How the fuck am I supposed to go to school if no one is willing to offer me a loan without a cosigner, and then won’t accept any of my potential cosigners?

I am mad as hell, and quite frankly at the moment I don’t care who knows. The system is broken, the economy is being, or rather has been, flushed down the toilet. When I was younger the powers that be were always talking about the future, and how we children were the future. It’s looking to be a pretty cruddy future at the moment.

Anyone who is willing to be my cosigner has been turned down because their credit isn’t up to the loaners standards and those whose credit would pass aren’t willing. Talk about a fucking catch twenty-two.

I understand that I don’t have a long credit history, but that shouldn’t mean anything as far as a student loan goes because there is no way to get out of repaying it. You cannot claim bankruptcy against a student loan. Besides this, who the hell do you think gets or needs a student loan?
Young people between the ages of 18 and 25 are the ones, for the most part, that will need funding for school. Obviously people in this category don’t have a long credit history, because they don’t have the jobs in which one earns large sums of money a year. These individual have no means of obtaining such a credit history.

In fact the ironic part of it is, is that the whole point of school is to get a job that allows for you not only to pay off your loans but also to be a part of the credit bracket that these lenders are apparently looking for.

FML.

Sneak Peek

So I asked Sarah what I should blog about, and she said that I should blog about her having a headache… and though she thinks that I can come up with one-hundred words about a headache, I’m not so sure. At any rate, instead of a usual post tonight I’m thinking that I’m going to insert an excerpt of my “novel-in-progress”.

Now mind you when I say in progress I really do mean in progress. This is from the beginning, feel free to let me know what you think:

The room spun; colors and objects bleeding into one another. Chilling voices rang out, screams and shouts penetrating the mad scene. In agony she fell to her knees, and cradled her head in the palms of her hands. Her thoughts were in a tumult as she fought to grasp some pillar of comprehension. The familiar darkness threatened to take hold.

A light knocking accompanied by a voice softer than the others teetered at the edge of her conscious. Gradually she returned to the present, feeling drained. “Melody?” Her mother questioned. “Melody, are you alright?”

She lifted her head, mystified by the tears that had pooled in her palms. “Yeah.” Her voice felt as though it was lodged somewhere in her throat. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Tuition Headaches

If I were smarter I would keep quiet. I know that my dad isn't upset with me, but even though I know that it's hard to feel as though that's really the case. I understand that it upsets him that I have to come up with so much money for tuition and there is nothing that he can realistically do about it.

I just wish he wouldn't get in such a mood whenever I bring up school. It would be nice if he could just relax. Funding school is my problem, and my problem alone. It doesn't matter to me that my parents don't have the money to send me there, all that matters is that they stand behind me.

The financial support doesn't matter quite so much at the moment as the emotional support, at least not from where I stand. I will work things out, and make school happen. I am determined to manage this, because it is something that I have wanted for a long time.

It may not be fair that the price tag on an education is so high but it is a reality that needs to be faced.

Orientation Day

I went to my orientation at MSU today. I was up at four and out of the house by five so that I could make it there by seven thirty. As it was I was plenty early, but it’s far better to be early than it is to be late.

Mainly the day consisted of sitting in a lecture hall and listening faculty talk about the success that they expected us to find at the school, and how though they understand that as transfer students we’ve attended college before we need to keep open minds: every school is run differently.

The most interesting part of the day was when we went off to meet our academic advisors and they talked about our actual programs. There were seven or so other Journalism majors, so it wasn’t an excessively long wait to talk to an advisor about scheduling. Before scheduling could take place though, all the Journalism majors had to take a grammar test. If we passed than we could take the two hundred level journalism class that proceeds entering the School of Journalism.

I passed the grammar test.

I was also informed that I am ten credits away from being a Junior, so this fall I will be considered a Sophomore, and in the spring I will be a Junior. Ah, the joys of being a transfer student. Although it could be worse, I met people today who only had twelve credits transfer in. I think I can live with my 46 transfer credits.

At any rate, the drive home gave me a headache. I got momentarily turned around in Jackson, since I had to go into Tecumseh before coming home. Then of course no one seemed to drive, it seemed like everyone wanted to drive on their brakes. It was maddening. I feel as though today was very productive.

I set up my schedule for this fall and spring, took care of my former neighbor’s cats for her, and managed to write this up without waiting until the last moment.

Not What I Promised

The big event of the day was assembling a fire pit so that we could put it on display in our department at work. I managed to get half of it put together before I had to leave. Either my coworker finished putting it together tonight, or it will be there waiting for me in the morning.

Really though I don't mind putting things like that together. Some day's I'd rather do that than actually deal with customers... Or maybe I should most days, rather than some days.

My headache has returned. I wish it would disappear, but that doesn't seem all together likely at the moment.

Yeah, about that...

Okay. So I said I was going to use today to write, but I ended up catching up on sleep. I don't generally sleep much past nine thirty, but it was nearly noon before I was up today. I guess I hadn't realized just how sleep deprived I've been lately.

Then of course I was distracted by the Internet, and t.v., and reading... It's a long list of excuses and I think I'll save it because I don't much like excuses.

I don't know if I mentioned previously that I just got All Time Low's new CD, "Nothing Personal". I've been listening to it pretty much constantly for the last few days. It's amazing.

I feel as though today's post is a little mediocre, but I promise to attempt to do better tomorrow.

Spider Overload

My day started out with spider overload and went downhill from there. I must be noted that I HATE spiders. While I understand that logically, yes, I am larger than they are they still freak me out. No one ever said that fear had to be rational. If fear was rational than I would be afraid of water rather than spiders.

Anyway, I got to work this afternoon and just before I got out of my car I noticed that there were spiders ALL OVER the outside of my car. Okay, okay maybe not all over but there was more than one and each of them were about the size of a dime. I didn't want to get out of the car, but faced with being late to work I opened the door and hopped out as quickly as I could. Thankfully no spiders made it into my car. That would have been an intense drive home.

Work, was work. There was nothing particularly exciting about it, aside from the return of my headache. At this point I'm fairly certain it's just a tension headache, and once I have things sorted out it will go away. Hopefully in the next week or so I can manage to get things sorted out.

Now there is a moth flying around my room. GREAT.

Headache

I feel as though my head is going to explode. I should probably take something, but... eh.

I suppose it would help if I could just breathe, just take a moment and stop THINKING. Thinking will get you every time. I have the day off Thursday. Maybe I'll spend the day writing. Maybe that's just what the doctor ordered.

Sometimes it is easy to feel like a coward, and generally that is because cowardly behavior isn't all that difficult to identify. At the moment I am tempted to refute these self-aimed claims... and yet I can't bring myself to. If I weren't so cowardly maybe I wouldn't feel the stress of all of these decisions weighing down on my shoulders.

I know what I need to do, and yet that doesn't make me any more inclined to get up and going about doing what needs to be done. I need to make a decision and follow through with it, and perhaps than I will manage to lose this headache.

Fictional Worlds

The goal for this evening is to finish reading "Cry Wolf" by Patricia Briggs. It's marvelous, and is definitely putting to rest any notion that I may have previously held of not enjoying her novels that aren't about Mercy Thompson. While the Mercy Thompson Series remains my favorite, I am definitely enjoying "Cry Wolf".

Tomorrow morning I go back to work after having yesterday and today off. It's hard to get back into the groove, but that is life I suppose. Tomorrow night I have to focus on finding a cosigner. I'm anxious for August to get here, but I need to get the funding in order if I still plan on going to school, which I very much do.

Why does school require so much money? Is it really any wonder that college students today are facing greater stress levels?

Eh. I am now returning to fictional worlds, where things make sense.

The Stress Equation

I resind yesterdays statment and claim today was a long day. This simple equation explains my day: Holiday Weekend + Understaffed = Retail Hell. There is nothing wrong with the store being busy, in fact that is preferable to being slow however only when the conditions are set up in such a manner that this may be handled accordingly.

One person watching over multiple departments that are excessively seperated is not condusive to an adequate working environment. In fact, these conditions are only condusive to major stress to all parties involved.

It is nice to be home, at least for the moment.

At around two this morning I finished reading "Blood Bound", and it was completely worth it. At the moment I'm reading "Iron Kissed", which is the book that follows it. Patricia Briggs is amazing. If you enjoy urban fantasy I highly recommend her Mercy Thompson Series.

Phone Theif

How did I know today was going to be a long day? At any rate it was a really long day.

I spent the bulk of my time at work, where we were incredibly busy while also incredibly understaffed. Things slowed down in the evening, but still: GAH. However, I will be back there tomorrow bright and early. By that time I'll probably regret staying up and finishing "Blood Bound" but that's nothing new. It's too good a book to wait until tomorrow evening.

Darcy is now sitting on my desk chair, nestled in my work shirt and glaring at me. I'm sure she can tell she is being talked about. However, I much prefer her glaring than attempting to gnaw on my arm. This is actually fairly funny.

I little while ago I was sitting here, when my phone started to ring. I had thrown it into my purse, so Darcy was immediately mesmerized by the idea that the bag laying next to her was making nose. I attempted to fish out my phone to no avail, and thus had to dump the contents of it onto my bed. This apparently was even more interesting, because she got up to begin assisting me in rifling through the now free contents. FINALLY I found my phone, and as I flipped it open she immediately went after my arm, as though she was going to take the phone away from me.

Cats.

Urban Dictionary

Go to UrbanDictionary.com and enter the answers to these questions. <-- Those were the directions attached to the initial survey. From what I could tell you were to answer the question, and then use your answer as the search word on UrbanDictionary. I could only assume you were to then pick a definition, and so I did.

Sorry for reverting to a meme tonight, but it was a long day and in anticipation of another long day tomorrow I am opting to have a less than optimal post today. Sorry, and enjoy! :)

1. What does your first name mean? Sandra: A Sandra is known to have striking intelligent features. Tends to be the bravest In a group of people. Although clumsy at times, always recovers from a stumble Like a ballerina in flip flops.

2. Your Age? 20: the number before 21 and after 19. generally used when counting.

3. Your State? Michigan: Mexico's biggest fan, seeing as every company decides to move there.

4. The Year You Were Born? 1989: The year in which the Berlin Wall fell, and the eighties ended.

5. Your Eye Color? Green: envious

6. Your Pets Name? Yoda: a wise or seemingly all-knowing individual AND Darcy: The epitome of flustration; rage at its finest.

7. Your Middle Name: Amaris: a misspelling of words such as: amazing, perfect, funny, hilarious, cute, pretty, beautiful, sexy, fine, ravishing, dashing, gorgeous, etc.

8. What's Your Favorite Drink? Coke: Any drink served in the South